Finland's energy company Fingrid plans to cease maintenance of power…
Finland's energy company Fingrid plans to cease maintenance of power line poles used for fiber-optic internet cables to Russia starting in 2027, citing economic unviability after Russia halted electricity exports in 2022. Russian officials and experts downplay the impact, stating that internet users will not notice changes due to existing alternative routes and network resilience.
Consensus
- Fingrid has informed Russian telecom operators about plans to stop maintaining power line poles used for fiber-optic cables starting in 2027.
- The maintenance cessation is due to the economic unviability of supporting the infrastructure after Russia stopped exporting electricity to Finland in 2022.
- The fiber-optic cables on these poles carry up to 30% of Russia-Finland internet connections.
- Russian telecom operators are discussing alternative routes with Finnish companies.
- Experts and officials from Russia state that Russian internet users will not experience noticeable changes in connectivity.
- Alternative routes include connections through Belarus, Asia, and undersea cables across the Baltic Sea.
Points of divergence
- The potential cessation of maintenance may affect the quality of internet services in Russia's Northwestern Federal District and increase delays in connecting to foreign resources. — meduza
- The cessation of maintenance may reduce network redundancy and require time-consuming reconfiguration of routes. — gazeta_spb
- Finnish infrastructure changes could result in Russia being disconnected from international internet traffic, with Finland handling 60–70% of Russia's foreign internet traffic. — tg_moscowmap
- An anonymous source claims that the cable will be cut and poles dismantled, but Fingrid and Russian operators have not confirmed this. — m24
Coverage (13 sources)
- Expert Kurochkin named measures against disconnecting Russia from the global internet — Москва 24
- Expert Kurochkin: Russia will not be disconnected from the global internet due to Finland's decision — Вечерняя Москва
- Deputy Gorelkin says destroying Finnish fiber-optic lines will not affect Russian internet users — Интерфакс
- Finland will stop maintaining power line poles supporting Russia. Internet cables are suspended on them — Meduza
- Finland plans to stop maintaining power line towers connected to Russia - SPB Newspaper — Gazeta.SPb
- Финская компания может обрезать кабели между РФ и Европой — Дождь
- Finnish company may cut part of the internet cables between Russia and Europe — Kommersant — Дождь (Telegram)
- ❗️ Финляндия с 2027 года отключит Россию от международного интернет-трафика — Новости Москвы
- Финляндия прекратит обслуживание опор ЛЭП с российским оптоволокном — Ведомости
- Ria Novosti: Finland plans to stop maintaining support structures for power lines connected to Russia — Вечерняя Москва
- Finland will cut part of Russia's foreign internet traffic channels — The Moscow Times
- Финляндия разрывает связь с Россией — прекращается обслуживание опор ЛЭП — Фонтанка
- Finland may stop servicing support lines for communications with Russia — Коммерсантъ
Key entities
- Russia
- Finland
- Fingrid
- Commerzant
- U
- Europe
- Kurochkin
- Moscow
- Anton Gorelkin
- INTERFAX.RU
- Media
- Kommersant
- State Duma
- Saint Petersburg
- Northwest